Belgium beat the United States 4-1 on Monday, knocking out the World Cup host at the last 16 stage, and unleashing a torrent of jokes across social media.
Just 24 hours earlier, Fifa had been engulfed in criticism for delaying USA striker Folarin Balogun’s automatic one-match suspension for receiving a red card following intervention from President Donald Trump.
The global football body has insisted that the decision to delay Balogun’s suspension was made independently, and was not due to phone calls from Washington.
That did not stop social media users from seizing on Belgium’s victory and mocking the Stars and Stripes’ loss in memes and jokes declaring that “not even Trump” could save the tournament hosts.
Even before kick-off, Belgian television poked fun at the controversy. As the broadcast introduced the VAR officials, one commentator joked that viewers could “also add Donald Trump from the White House”.
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As Belgium’s lead grew and the US appeared destined for elimination, a Dutch commentator quipped that only “a miracle” could save the hosts – “or maybe someone from the White House”.
The memes only escalated after the final whistle.
“Overturn this,” the Belgium team’s official X account posted after their win.
Several television commentators joined in. A Croatian commentator joked in a viral clip: “Belgium won, but let’s wait… maybe tomorrow morning when we wake up, a call from the White House comes in.”
Meme referencing the game UNO featuring the USA and Belgium strikers (TikTok)
After Romelu Lukaku’s stoppage-time goal, Belgium’s players themselves appeared to add to the mockery by performing Trump’s signature dance, a clip that quickly spread across X and Instagram.
Others mocked the US’ defeat through references to current events.
“Haven’t seen America this thoroughly embarrassed on the world stage since we lost that war we started with Iran like 3 weeks ago,” posted one user.
Some social media users imagined Trump’s response to the defeat.
One X user composed a ficticious presidential statement: “I just learned that Belgium only had to score more goals than the United States to eliminate us. I think Fifa should review this situation!”
https://x.com/ditzkoff/status/207484759501443519?s=2,”0“Major combat operations begin in Belgium in one hour,” joked one user.
Others summed up the situation more bluntly.
“So Fifa changed the rules to help the United States… and they still lost 4-1 to Belgium.”
